Safety Net
by thefalconwarrior
Summary: Set after Episode s02e07: Bruce Wayne. Dick and Jason head back inside. Dick proves he's actually learned something.


_**A/N**_: My god, it's been such a long time since I've posted here. Well I've got a couple things up on AO3 I should post here…it's just I write online and posting on FF is such a _process_ sometimes…and I've got this, because I just watched the new episode last night and was _shook._ Spoilers, if that wasn't obvious already, and mention of attempted suicide.

"It's not you, Jason," Dick finished, quietly.

He was standing behind him. Jason wasn't sure when that had happened.

There were hands on his waist, and Dick was pulling him down. He let him.

He didn't feel like falling anymore, anyways. He just felt...numb.

There were arms around his shoulders, and Dick was pacing backwards, until they were five, six feet from the edge. Then there was a heavy, wet breath somewhere near the top of his head as Dick squeezed him gently.

And normally—Jason would have shoved out of the man's grip. Refused to let someone touch him, refuse the-(hug, it was a hug but he _did_ refuse to call it that), refuse to allow himself to look _weak_ in any way.

But.

But Dick was solid and warm, behind him (like Rose—ack, never mind that thought). His arms around him gripping him,(so much more secure than the desperate grip he could feel squeezing his wrist through the heavy glove, even as Dick's hand slid—a last, desperate squeeze at his fingers before the tips of their fingers brushed and Dick was screaming his name), _holding_ him, safe, and-

He wasn't falling.

(He just wanted to _stop falling_.)

He shivered (it was cold up here) and leaned back, just a little. His head bumped against Dick's chin and he could hear shallow, shaky breaths in his ear.

Yeah. That bombshell.

He reached up a shaky hand to pat the ones over his sternum.

"You didn't kill him, Dickie," he said, quietly.

Dick huffed (was that supposed to be a laugh?) "I had an already fucked up plan, the plan fucked up even worse, and Jericho died. So I kinda did."

It didn't sound quite right to Jason—twisted logic—after the story Dick had just told him, but he couldn't quite puzzle together the _why_ of it anymore.

Dick leaned his forehead against the back of Jason's head. "Let's get inside."

Jason nodded, jerkily, and one of Dick's arms slid off his shoulder, the other turning him around and leading him towards the roof access door.

"You gonna tell them?"

There was a pause. (Dick. Always so dramatic.) "I should have told them a long time ago."

"Can't you just say yes or no like a normal person?"

That earned him an actual bark of laughter and a squeeze.

Then they were stepping into the kitchen and they were all standing there. Rachel. Hank. Dawn. Donna. Gar had come in at some point. Staring at him.

He felt something bubbling unpleasantly in his stomach, fighting its way up his throat. Dick gave him one last squeeze and let go.

He felt like he had when Dick's fingers had brushed past his. Last anchor gone and he was going to start falling-

He shifted, but Dick caught his wrist. Jason stilled. Dick didn't let go.

"Rache," he said evenly. "Go get Kori. We need to talk."

Hank started forward. "Hell yes, we need to-"

"Just _shut up_ for a second," Dick snapped, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Look," he started, looking each and every one of them in the eyes. "Deathstroke's in the tower, somehow, and we have to _deal with that_. But I've got...a secret I've kept too long, you guys are seeing ghosts, Rachel and Gar, don't think I haven't noticed that you two are decidedly _not talking to each other_, we have Slade Wilson's daughter who he wants to get his hands on and a dying kid in the medbay-" Rachel started to talk but Dick raised his voice, going on. "-and I just _pulled my little brother off the top of the fucking tower."_

Somebody gasped. Jason wasn't sure who as he glared determinedly at an empty part of the wall somewhere over Hank's shoulder and next to Gar's head.

Then his mind unconsciously played back what Dick had just said.

Wait, wait. _Little brother?_

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kori appear at the door, Rachel trailing behind her.

"We need a plan. We need to figure out what Deathstroke's planning, and we need to _fight him_. But hell if we don't _clear the air_ first we will be doing all the work for him."

Dick let go of Jason's wrist then, to fold his arms. Jason could feel him shaking from where their shoulders touched, and he pressed back against his...older brother? Hoping he'd recognize it as a quiet show of support.

"I'll go first," Dick announced. "And I will warn you now, it's bad. Yell at me all you want. Hit me if you'd like. But no one leaves this room until we've talked about _everything."_

_**A/N:**_ Okay so. Can I rant?  
Rachel I get, after what Jason said to her after the training incident, and she's just a kid. After what she finds it would seem obvious to her to point at the one person in the tower who's been mean to her recently. But the way EVERYONE ELSE turned on him? That was just NASTY. And so, so messed up.  
And seriously, we don't know all the details of Dick's big secret yet and it's obviously bad but. Even with that guilt, he's trying to build something good anyways. He needs to tell everyone, duh. But at least his reaction to the tensions is becoming an overprotective, underexplaining and beating people up as he chases Deathstroke rather than TAKING IT OUT ON A KID WHO JUST NEARLY DIED AND OBVIOUSLY ISN'T OVER IT YET.  
Anyways. With the way these stories seem to go, probably everything is about to explode in Dick's face, someone should be keeping an eye on Rose, and Jason probably hates him as much as everyone else.  
But IF Jericho dying really was a bad-plan-gone-wrong-and-ended-in-unintentional death, I feel like Jason, who condoned the idea of Dick ACTUALLY KILLING the guy who killed his parents, would be able to hear the story and see Dick as stupid but ultimately innocent to some degree at least.  
And if Dick's learned he needs to tell the truth, maybe he's learned the actual lesson that this applies to all situations.  
And also. Let a person dream, hunh? If Dick and Bruce are on better terms and Dick's given Jason his blessing as Robin...they could be bros, yeah?  
Plus. They both really need a hug right now, I think.


End file.
